Standards

The Natural Disasters & Health (NDH) project addresses these important goals:

Goals

Enhance student scientific literacy of human body systems using natural disasters as a hook to gain their undivided attention.
Develop critical thinking skills to determine courses of action, supported by information and resources needed to identify and effectively respond to problems.
Promote team skills of collaboration and communication.
Involve parents and local experts in NDH learning.
Introduce health careers and the education necessary to achieve them.
Include underrepresented groups in all activities.
Be widely used now and in the future.

Please note: The specific science standards addressed in this section apply to the problem-based learning (PBL) modules, the PBL modules with a socio-scientific approach, and the Extensions and Activities. Not all standards apply to any other single component of the project.

Middle School NGSS Standards

Life Science:

Structure and Function

In multicellular organisms, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems. These subsystems are groups of cells that work together to form tissues and organs that are specialized for particular body functions.

Systems may interact with other systems; they may have sub-systems and be a part of larger complex systems.

Specialized tissues comprise each organ, enabling the specific organ functions to be carried out (e.g., the heart contains muscle, connective, and epithelial tissues that allow the heart to receive and pump blood).

Different organs can work together as subsystems to form organ systems that carry out complex functions (e.g., the heart and blood vessels work together as the circulatory system to transport blood and materials throughout the body).

The body contains organs and organ systems that interact with each other to carry out all necessary functions for survival and growth of the organism.

Human Impacts

Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Constructing explanations and designing solutions includes constructing explanations and designing solutions supported by multiple sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories.

Engaging in argument from evidence progresses to constructing a convincing argument that supports or refutes claims for either explanations or solutions about the natural and designed world(s).

Construct an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem.

Asking Questions

Mapping the history of natural hazards in a region, combined with an understanding of related geologic forces can help forecast the locations and likelihoods of future events.
Ask questions that arise from careful observation of phenomena, models, or unexpected results, to clarify and/or seek additional information.
Ask questions to identify and/or clarify evidence and/or the premise of an argument.

Cross-cutting Disciplines

Science is both a body of knowledge and the processes and practices used to add to that body of knowledge.
Science is a way of knowing used by many people, not just scientists.

Questions about the Natural and Material World

Scientific knowledge is constrained by human capacity, technology, and materials.
Science knowledge can describe consequences of actions but is not responsible for society’s decisions.

Developing and Using Models

Ask questions to identify and /or clarify evidence and/or the premise of an argument.

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Compare and critique two arguments on the same topic and analyze whether they emphasize similar or different evidence and/or interpretations of facts.
Respectfully provide and receive critiques about one’s explanations, procedures, models and questions by citing relevant evidence and posing and responding to questions that elicit pertinent elaboration and detail.
Construct, use, and/or present an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem.

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Critically read scientific texts adapted for classroom use to determine the central ideas and/or obtain scientific and/or technical information to describe patterns in and/or evidence about the natural and designed world(s).
Gather, read, synthesize information from multiple appropriate sources and assess the credibility, accuracy, and possible bias of each publication and methods used, and describe how they are supported or not supported by evidence.
Communicate scientific or technical information (e.g. about a proposed object, tool, process, system) in writing and/or through oral presentations.

Science is a Human Endeavor

Scientists and engineers are guided by habits of mind such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas.

Earth Science

ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems
Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things.

ESS2.C The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns. (MSESS2-5)

ESS2.D Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things.

MS-ESS3-2. Some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather, are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and thus are not yet predictable. Examples of natural hazards can be taken from interior processes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), surface processes (such as mass wasting and tsunamis), or severe weather events (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods).

Examples of data can include the locations, magnitudes, and frequencies of the natural hazards. Examples of technologies can be global (such as satellite systems to monitor hurricanes or forest fires) or local (such as building basements in tornado-prone regions or reservoirs to mitigate droughts).

National Science Education Standards

Life Science—Content Standard C

As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of:

Structure and function in living systems

Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ system, whole organisms, and ecosystems.
All organisms are composed of cells—the fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are single cells, other organisms, including humans are multicellular.
Cells carry on the many function needed to sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby producing more cells.
Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms. Groups of specialized cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a muscle. Different tissues are in turn grouped together to form larger functional units called organs. Each type of cells, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole.
The human organism has systems for digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control and coordination and for protection from disease. These systems interact with one another.
Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions of an organism. Some diseases are the result of intrinsic failures of the system. Other are the result of damage by infections by other organisms.

Earth Science

Water, which covers the majority of the earth’s surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is known as the “water cycle”. Water evaporates from the earth’s surface, rises and cools as it moves to high elevations, condenses as rain or snow, and falls to the surface where it collects in lakes, oceans, soil, and in rocks underground.
Clouds, formed by condensation of water vapor, affect weather and climate.
Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather. Oceans have a major effect on climate, because water in the oceans holds a large amount of heat.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

Natural Hazards

Internal and external processes of the earth system cause natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans. Natural hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids.
Natural hazards can present personal and societal challenges because misidentifying the change or incorrectly estimating the rate and scale of change may result in either too little attention and significant human costs or too much unneeded preventive measures.

Risks and Benefits

Students should understand the risks associated with natural hazards (fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions), with chemical hazards (pollutants in air, water, soil, and food), with biological hazards (pollen, viruses, bacterial, and parasites), social hazards (occupational safety and transportation), and with personal hazards (smoking, dieting and drinking).
Important personal and social decisions are made based on perceptions of benefits and risks.

Personal Health

The potential for accidents and the existence of hazards imposes the need for injury prevention and the recognition of risk in personal decisions. Injury prevention has personal and social dimensions.
The potential for accidents and the existence of hazards imposes the need for injury prevention. Safe living involves the development and use of safety precautions and the recognition of risk in personal decisions. Injury prevention has personal and social dimensions.
The use of tobacco increases the risk of illness. Students should understand the influence of short-term social and psychological factors that lead to tobacco use, and the possible long-term detrimental effects of smoking and chewing tobacco.
Alcohol and other drugs are often abused substances. Such drugs change how the body functions and can lead to addiction.

Science as a Human Endeavor

Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as the field of study and type of inquiry. Science is very much a human endeavor, and the work of science relies on basic human qualities, such as reasoning, insight, energy, sill, and creativity—as well as on scientific habits of mind such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas.

West Virginia Science Standards

Life Science

conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.
use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Human Impacts

analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Reading-Key Ideas and Details

cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.
follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics.
integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.
(by the end of grade 8), read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Writing-Text Types and Purposes

introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.
use words, phrases and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons and evidence.
provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

Students will:

write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments or technical processes:
introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts and information into broader categories as appropriate to achieving purpose; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts and tables) and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone.
provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.

Topic: Writing-Production and Distribution of Writing

Students will:

produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

Topic: Writing-Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Students will:

conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research.

The Natural Disasters & Health (NDH) project addresses these important goals:

Life Science:

Structure and Function

use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.

use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.

integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.

(by the end of grade 8), read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Writing-Text Types and Purposes

introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims and organize the reasons and evidence logically.